1. GENERAL FRAMEWORK

The Regional Plan of Territorial Organisation of the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon, PROTAML, proposed the recovery of the eastern margin of the city of Lisbon, which in 1993 constituted an abandoned and degraded periphery, occupied by insalubrious and dangerous installations.

From the architectonic and urbanistic detailed studies provided in the Competition for Ideas for the Renewal of the Riverfront Area, promoted by the Association of Portuguese Architects in 1988, and in the VALIS in 1990, came the study of the location of the Expo 98 in 1991, the Preliminary Master Plan of which, prepared by Architect Carlos Duarte and José Lamas, ensured the realisation of this event in Lisbon, in competition with other cities around the world.

At the end of 1992, with the corridor for the new road crossing of the River Tagus established between Sacavém and Montijo, the Vasco da Gama Bridge, and based on the Preliminary Master Plan, the Architects Graça Dias and Egas Vieira prepared the Study for the Urban Design Model for the Area Surrounding the EXPO’98, the objective of which was to establish an idea of urban design and evaluate the capacity for construction of the land.

Once the decision to hold the 1998 International Exposition in Lisbon was confirmed, later the World Exposition, EXPO’98, the structure which would promote it, the Parque Expo’98, S.A., PE 98, S.A., was instituted and was granted specific attributes and powers in terms of the organisation of the Intervention Zone, IZ.

By mid 1993, based on the Preliminary Urbanisation Study, prepared under the direction of Architect Nuno Portas – which constituted a strategic document of urbanistic management and already anticipated a proposal for the design of public space capable of bringing together the projects to be developed – the Competition for Ideas for the EXPO’98 Site was launched, in an area confined to 25 hectares, not with the purpose of selecting the proposal for the definitive plan for the site, but to generate ideas for its organisation.

The proposals presented by the candidates were mostly limited to the space of the Exposition Site; however, some also referred to the framework of the IZ, respecting it or altering it. Of the five proposals which received prizes, two were withheld: those of Architect Norman Foster and Architect Manuel Vicente, both with a strong symbolic impact and assuming the "ephemeral" as an urban language.

*IN "EXPO 98 ARCHITECTURE" publisher BLAU, 1998 – Luís Vassalo Rosa. The Plan and Project for the Public Space of the Site constituted a text which was appended in 1999.

After the conclusion of the Master Plans of the Municipalities of Lisbon and Loures, in April of 1993 these municipalities prepared urbanistic framework documents, in the development of which programs were considered organisational studies and projects for the IZ, given that this covers territory of both these municipalities.

It is within this context that, in November of 1993, the PE 98 S.A. began the preparation of the Urbanisation Plan for the Intervention Zone, the UP, under the direction of Architect Vassalo Rosa, which embraced the concept of public and constructed space for the realisation of the EXPO’98, and covered the whole of the IZ, with an area of 340 hectares and 5km of riverfront, located in the geographical centre and with plenty of access to the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, LMA.

The UP, once prepared, linked up with the design of the urban structure, according to the regular square model, the design of public space of urban interwoven patterns and their peculiarities – the so-called constants – reducing the essential variation and formal diversity to that of the most significant architecture. In turn, the main longitudinal axes – cutting through symbolic points – are highlighted by the transversal avenues, threading down to the riverfront; the regularity f the orthogonal pattern adapts itself to the levelled morphology of the land and, in the highest areas, evolves into raised bases in the land, forming public squares and terraces over the riverfront; the slightest rises of the land become belvederes; the natural space of the large estuary of the Tagus becomes a scenario which graduates and throws the system of viewpoints made up of the tree-lined boulevards and walkways of the urban park into relief.

The Detailed Plans and the Public Space Projects to be consolidated up to the stage of the EXPO – the first urbanisation phase – developed under the direction and co-ordination of the UP by teams selected for the preparation of the Detailed Urbanistic Studies, consolidated the vectors of the proposed urban concept.

2. THE URBANISATION PLAN

With the recovery and urbanistic redevelopment of the IZ as its objective, and the realisation of the EXPO´98 as a priority, the UP was based on the following strategic vectors:

• The enhancement of the geographical peculiarity of the IZ on the riverfront of the River Tagus and its centrality in the network of accesses to the LMA;

• The realisation of a multifunctional structure constituting a focus of metropolitan dimension of a high environmental and urban quality;

• Taking maximum advantage of the holding of the EXPO’98 and making convergent advancements possible in the process of recovery and urbanistic redevelopment;

• Integration in the strategy of the PROTAML, articulation with the Municipal Master Plans of Lisbon and Loures and the establishment of the UP within the required legal limits, so as to allow the development of alternatives, capable of being formulated in the preparation of the Detailed Plans (DP);

The urbanistic concepts formally brought about by the UP are:

• Observance of environmental and urbanistic conditioning factors which most impacted on the IZ;

• Constitution of a network of accesses, articulated with the metropolitan network, and the extension of the conditions of centrality and attraction to the maximum possible extent of the IZ;

• Continuity with the surrounding urban fabric and the functional and visual transposition of the existing barriers to this continuity;

The general outline of the main axes, intersections and patterns of the urban structure, obeying the principle of constructing public space as a structural element of the urbanistic recovery and redevelopment, based on 5 physical conditioning components of this concept:

© Parque EXPO'98 S.A. - Abílio Leitão

- The Panoramic Platform – raised above the land, to the level of the railway platform, linked up with the Main Route;

- the Central Boulevard – the main longitudinal axis, linked up to the transversal boulevards, allowing the urbanistic recovery and redevelopment to spread to the south of the IZ;

- the Diagonal Boulevard –connected up to the refinery tower and the belvederes at Cabeço das Rolas, reinforcing the uniqueness of these elements and bringing them into the centre of the urban stage;

- The Riverfront Walkway and the Dock – linked up to the riverfront and through the transversal boulevards with the Central Boulevard and the Panoramic Platform;

- The Riverside Park, connected up to the riverfront of the River Tagus and the Trancão, allowing continuity to the north.

• Thinning out of the constructional occupation from the innermost stretch, next to the railway line – treated there as an extremely dense urban centre full of buildings with a strong visual impact – and as a public esplanade and walkway with a low density of buildings and volumetrical sparseness on the riverfront;

• Diversity of the urban fabric with an incentive towards quality and singularity in its architecture and towards a balanced aesthetic and environmental composition of the outdoor spaces;

• Constitution of a continuous green structure, integrated with the constructed urban structure and the enhancement of the system of riverside views;

• Safeguarding of the maximum flexibility in urban management, with respect for the established concepts.

Summarising, the Urbanisation Plan:

- Makes its mark on the land:

• By turning the city to the river and joining it up to the hinterland – opening a new door to the city;
• With the model of the square mesh;
• With the project of public space;
• By connecting the definitive with the ephemeral;
• By integrating the memory of the 1998 World Exposition.

- It generated both singular and diverse urban and architectural opportunities:

• With architectural landmarks;
• With ephemeral scenarios and urban installations.

- It guaranteed sustainability by means of:

• Respect for the capacity to support the natural and urban environment;
• Control of the overall cost and making possible the maintenance and conservation of the areas;
• The creation of diversity/singularity/density/multifunctionality generating centrality.

- It made the participation of promoters possible by means of:

• The interaction of the administration, technicians and promoters.